News Microsoft acquires Nokia's mobile arm

As an advocate of the WP7,7.8 and now WP8 (and soon 8.1) from my very first HTC Trophy, Samsung Omnia 7, Lumia 800, Lumia 900 and now Lumia 925, I think this is great move for both companies.

The whining about lack of apps (the only thing holding anyone back apparently) is now coming to a close with the apparent top 50 apps on all devices now available on WP. It's only the likes of Google and Apple who are restricting their brand apps even when Microsoft have done all the development and spent the money in creation. However, the alternatives available make up for any of that.

Smart move for both companies and can't wait for the my Lumia 1020 due later this month.

 

Microsoft Trojan mission successfully completed. It will be awarded by CEO position at Microsoft . Seriously, MS bought Nokia for less than they bought Skype for - $7.17 billion for Nokia, $8.5 billion for Skype.

Well played Microsoft, well played.

PS: I wonder how quickly will MS get rid of Asha lineup, i would not be surprised if they would sell that part of the company to some Chinese company.

 

There's no longer an issue with Apps, the phones are very good and the OS has evolved, I enjoy using my Android phone for personal use and Windows phone is ideal for work.

My immediate gut reaction raised a question:

If Microsoft are now a competitor in hardware sales won't this mean that other companies offering Windows powered phones will stick with Android?

But then I recalled that Google have been selling their own Android phones for an age, iOS is exclusive to Apple and Blackberry - they are all in a similar situation so it shouldn't have much of an impact.

.....it's probably going to cost shedloads in marketing, but Microsoft has a real opportunity to gain considerable market share.... it's a ballsy move and this competition should be good news for us consumers.

 

No, situation is nowhere near similar. Motorola was and still is a minor player on global scale in Android phone market. Nokia on other side is the dominant player in the Windows Phone market. So yes, it will mean less interest in creating WP8 phones from other manufacturers, they will probably do them only to lower the patent licence fees from Microsoft for their phones with other OS. Just look at Samsung and their one Windows Phone 8 model, do you really think they take WP8 seriously ? They have ATIV S only because the agreement with MS said they need to release a WP8 phone.

 

:'( I can only see this as a bad thing. I love my Lumia 800 not because of the OS but because its built like a Nokia. It has an awesome battery life for a smartie. Microsoft will turn this into a processing powerhouse war. The OS is my favourite in terms of UI but I wish I could customise a few things and that better integration with apps was possible.

 

I love my Lumia 920 and Microsoft and Nokia seem to have a close relationship with Windows Phone.

I just hope that Nokia stays Nokia and not SurfacePhone or something stupid like that since that, But I might bring good things to MS like Nokia's clean designs and reliable hardware.

 

Greetings!

For Microsoft its a great deal. Not so sure its the same for Nokia. 7,2B is a ridiculous low price too. Skype was bought for 8,5B....

Elop gets his reward, returning to Microsoft. Lots of other Nokia executives also get assimilated by Microsoft.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/3/4688800/steve-ballmer-nokia-acquisition-letter-microsoft-fte

Surprisingly, the guy in charge of Lumia devices design wont be assimilated:
http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/02/stephen-elop-stepping-down-as-nokia-ceo-risto-siilasmaa-takes-h/

All other WP/WRT makers (the surviving ones) have no reason to keep fighting Nokia for market share, its a lost battle. Regardless of how Microsoft spins it:
http://www.neowin.net/news/microsofts-os-leader-buying-lumia-will-help-other-windows-phone-oems

Interesting time in the mobile area now. Nokias WPs are finally present everywhere and, more importantly, at all prices ranges. Still a long battle to win Androids market share.
Feel a bit sad for those who bought a non-Nokia WP device lately, though.

 

@Gareth Halfacree: they got a licence to use Nokia name for 10 years. I think they will use Nokia for next year or so, then it will by Nokia by Microsoft for next 2 years, and just Microsoft after that.

 

The beginning of the end for Windows Phone IMO. We all know MS can't sell hardware (Xbox excluded). Zune HD anyone? The Surface RT is the wrong form factor, should have been 7 inch and then a lot cheaper. 7 inch Windows 8.1 devices are coming out soon but only from MS OEMS and far too late to the party.

As a Lumia 800 owner what's putting me off getting a WP upgrade next month it's the lack of any device with a decent 4.5-5 inch 300 ppi display to rival the likes HTC One or Galaxy S4. This seems a long way off as this type of screen is not even supported in WP8's OS. I'm not too interested in carrying around a DSLR in my pocket regarding the Lumia 1020.

They are discussing targets for a 15% market share in 2018. In 2018 the mobile phone market will be very different. Around then MS will be kicking themselves (again) that they didn't release a smart watch.

 

I also think the Nokia Brand still has a name for reliability, I hope they keep the name but it will probably just revert to the "WindowsPhone"

I think lower end, they can saturate the market with cheap but good quality phones. OS level, there really isn't much between a Lumia 520 to a Lumia 925.

 

Have you tried the 925 j_jay4? It wipes the floor with the One and S4 and still has a the best (current) smartphone camera in the market. The 1020 is not like the S4Zoom, which is a DSLR in your pocket. The 1020 is slightly raised around the lens.

 

While I'm not surprised why did they bother? They "bought" Nokia 2 years ago when they went exclusive to Windows Phone. Nokia has been pumping out solid devices ever since with most of the complaints coming from the software side (especially recently as the 1025 runs the exactly the same OS as the last flagship).

So unless Nokia was in trouble this seemed like a pretty cosy relationship for Microsoft.

I did read The Verge interview with Ballmer and it has quotes like "perhaps acquisition would be a way to accelerate".
Accelerate what? New hardware is coming often from Nokia, and usually to a good spec, its the software that's sitting still. That's on Microsoft not Nokia.

Maybe they had some anti-competitive issue with working too closely with Nokia. So they can bring the hardware in house now and have teams work together more closely. We have seen how long that can take to bare fruit though going by Motorola and Google.
Not that I feel HTC or Samsung would give two hoots going by how little they seem to care about Windows Phone.

 

A once proud finnish trademark has now been sold out. I can only despise this decision as it will lead to some 30k unemployed in Finland during the next year.

Nokia would've done better, if they had decided to develop MeeGo (Nokia N9!). Microsoft Windows Phone simply isn't a very good mobile OS.

What we've seen today was just what I expected back then, when Nokia announced to go with Windows Phone.

Today Nokia finally died... *humming the finnish anthem in my head*

 

Unless NY Times have wrong info, because they are saying :

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/technology/microsoft-gets-nokia-units-and-leader.html?_r=0

So does Financial Times:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dd04faf0-1452-11e3-9289-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2doyZGwQC

ibtimes says :

http://www.ibtimes.com/microsoft-buy-nokias-mobile-devices-services-business-72-billion-1402277

 

Maybe they got the info from MS ?